Evolution of T-shaped gate lithography for compound semiconductors field-effect transistors

T-shaped gate formation is a major processing step in the fabrication of high-performance FET-based III-V devices. Traditional bilayer or trilayer E-beam lithography methods using PMMA/(PMMA&PMAA) copolymers are high-cost options which also lack the required critical dimension control for manufacturing. Lithography methods that use only a single layer of PMMA for the formation of T-shaped gate stem, and routine I-line resist lithography for the tee-top, i.e., hybrid T-shaped gates, have been developed and extensively used in manufacturing. This approach has also been extended to the fabrication of deep submicron T-shaped gates using all I-line optical lithography. Both chemical shrinks and chromeless phase-shift resolution enhancement techniques have been investigated.